Local snowbird migration soaring

Tuesday

Jan 8, 2013 at 3:51 PMJan 8, 2013 at 5:25 PM

With thousands of snowbirds traveling from colder climates in the United States and Canada each winter to Volusia and Flagler counties, local Realtors say sales and rentals to this year's flock of snowbirds are up significantly.

RICHARD CONNSTAFF WRITER

NEW SMYRNA BEACH — Snow often looks beautiful in photographs. That's good, because a picture is more than sufficient for Doris Morrison. "When my grandson calls me and tells me he just shoveled 10 inches of snow (from Morrison's driveway in Michigan), I say, 'Oh, that's nice. I'll send you a check,' " she said. Morrison said she's too busy enjoying the "beautiful" white sand in New Smyrna Beach, where Morrison and her husband, Ray, have made their winter home for the last eight years. The Sterling Heights, Mich., couple are part of the annual migration of thousands of snowbirds who travel from colder climates in the United States and Canada each winter to Volusia and Flagler counties. Local Realtors say sales and rentals to this year's flock of snowbirds are up significantly. "Our rental business for November and December was up 60 percent over the same time last year," said Bill Roe, owner of Ocean Properties and Management in New Smyrna Beach. After "not the greatest year" in 2011, Roe said he didn't quite believe the figures he was presented with for his company's fourth quarter in 2012. "I said, 'This isn't right,' " he laughed. "This year was the first year in six years that our fourth quarter was very good." Roe said the local market is buoyed in part by a recent influx of Canadian visitors, whom he believes started coming back to the area in full force last year — more confident in their spending with the continued strengthening of the Canadian dollar. Officials with Ocean Properties even traveled to trade shows in Canada last year to get a foothold in the market, and Roe said he's advertising again in the Great White North, something he hasn't done in 10 years. Ron Wysocarski, leader of the Wyse Home Team at Keller Williams Realty in Daytona Beach, said he's seen a surge in winter condominium and home sales. Where in years past there was a lot of "tire-kicking" from prospective buyers, many are now deciding to take the plunge. "We're seeing activity that's different than we've seen in the last five years," he said. "It's very exciting." The amount of available homes has dipped, while prices are starting to climb, Wysocarski said. Those reasons, coupled with the seemingly ever-present ones of wanting to escape harsh winters and higher taxes up North, have led to a flurry of new buyers. "The people that are still a couple of years away from retirement, now they are looking at it, (saying) 'Well, you know what, prices are starting to go back up and if we wait another couple of years, it'll cost us a lot more money,' " he said. Most snowbirds arrive after New Year's Day, but some like Hart Luebkeman and his wife, Elaine, came down in the fall. The Luebkemans have made the winter sojourn to New Smyrna Beach since the 1980s, when they traded trips in their motor home for stays at their friend's condominium. Before long, the couple, who live in southeastern Indiana, were renting their own place and in 2001 purchased a condo in Sea Woods Villa. Luebkeman, 74, said he and his wife enjoy the area's beaches and a spectrum of restaurants from the "good dives" to fine dining. This year the couple are staying in New Smyrna until April. "We bicycle, and we like the idea that we can not only bicycle on the beach but that we can bicycle on the beach around New Smyrna and don't feel threatened by traffic," he said. Morrison said she and her husband like New Smyrna because it is not as populated as other parts of Florida. "We call it Florida's best-kept secret," she said. While the market for snowbirds is surging, Roe said he's seen the market shift in recent years. "We used to get all kinds of four-, five- and six-monthers," he said. "That's really not the case anymore. You do get some of those, but it's shorter stays." Linda Bittinger and her husband, Joe, have made the winter migration to Southeast Volusia where they also maintain a place at Sea Woods. The couple make their home the rest of the year in Sherman, N.Y. "We've made so many friends that we keep in contact during the year," said Bittinger, 61. "It's a nice, I'd guess you'd say, society here in Sea Woods." One of the sure signs the snowbirds are arriving is tee times filling up at local golf courses. Gary Wintz, manager at the New Smyrna Beach Municipal Course, said he's already seen the impact. "We really get the big flux," he said. "Everything starts around (mid-January) all the way to April is where we see our really big business."

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